Mulger bill wrote:I know, but what the hey. I mighta impeded his progress if I had half a chance but he was too bl00dy quick.

Saw one of these types this morning on Loftus Street/Bridge Street corner in Sydney around 8:03am on a road bike. He stopped, put his foot up on the kerb and then when the coast looked clear, way he went through the red light, half across the pedestrian crossing as if that made it less contemptible.

My moron didn't stop, he barely backed off. THAT's why I want to punch him in the throat

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

O.K., I don't often bother to post here often, but this really takes the prize. Myself and two others riding single file at reduced speed on the shared pathway across Commonwealth Ave bridge, "Floriade" foot traffic heading the other way. There's a woman walking in the middle of the shared path, Mr. POBSO is coming up behind her. He goes to pass her on her right, but of course, we are heading straight for him, so he tries to pass her on the left, just as she moves over to the correct side of the path. So the moron, instead of waiting for the path to clear, now proceeds to overtake her on our side of the shared path, only just avoiding a head-on with our lead rider, who had decided that it was looking rather dodgy and braked.

And at the end of the bridge, I got to stare down two women who just kept walking sheep-like towards me on the wrong side of the path until I was almost track-standing in front of them and blocking their way.

twizzle wrote:O.K., I don't often bother to post here often, but this really takes the prize. Myself and two others riding single file at reduced speed on the shared pathway across Commonwealth Ave bridge, "Floriade" foot traffic heading the other way. There's a woman walking in the middle of the shared path, Mr. POBSO is coming up behind her. He goes to pass her on her right, but of course, we are heading straight for him, so he tries to pass her on the left, just as she moves over to the correct side of the path. So the moron, instead of waiting for the path to clear, now proceeds to overtake her on our side of the shared path, only just avoiding a head-on with our lead rider, who had decided that it was looking rather dodgy and braked.

And at the end of the bridge, I got to stare down two women who just kept walking sheep-like towards me on the wrong side of the path until I was almost track-standing in front of them and blocking their way.

twizzle wrote:O.K., I don't often bother to post here often, but this really takes the prize. Myself and two others riding single file at reduced speed on the shared pathway across Commonwealth Ave bridge, "Floriade" foot traffic heading the other way. There's a woman walking in the middle of the shared path, Mr. POBSO is coming up behind her. He goes to pass her on her right, but of course, we are heading straight for him, so he tries to pass her on the left, just as she moves over to the correct side of the path. So the moron, instead of waiting for the path to clear, now proceeds to overtake her on our side of the shared path, only just avoiding a head-on with our lead rider, who had decided that it was looking rather dodgy and braked.

And at the end of the bridge, I got to stare down two women who just kept walking sheep-like towards me on the wrong side of the path until I was almost track-standing in front of them and blocking their way.

Sent from my iThingy...

I think someone suggested a while back on here that we should be riding on the road, and not on the shared paths. There are some seriously dumb people on the paths.

I get really annoyed with the oncoming group riders going side-by-side on the shared paths. So I just blend over a bit closer to the edge of my "lane" and force them to go single file as they should on narrow paths when approaching other people riding or walking in the other direction. It's sheer rudeness and stupidity, especially in windy conditions. When they relent and go single file, I move back over and leave more room. If they don't, I move back and slow right down.

Last edited by g-boaf on Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

had another rogue dog walker on MYT last night. his dog is wandering around on the nature strip on the RHS of the path while ol' mate wanders along on the left. clearly the dog is treating the general area as its playground. the 2 cyclists ahead of me sensibly slow down to pass and i mention to ol' mate as i pass "control your dog mate!" in a matter-of-fact voice (i.e. non-abusive). i get an earful in response, so i return serve. the guy was in no doubt about what he was doing (wrong) but just didn't give a stuff.

jules21 wrote:had another rogue dog walker on MYT last night. his dog is wandering around on the nature strip on the RHS of the path while ol' mate wanders along on the left. clearly the dog is treating the general area as its playground. the 2 cyclists ahead of me sensibly slow down to pass and i mention to ol' mate as i pass "control your dog mate!" in a matter-of-fact voice (i.e. non-abusive). i get an earful in response, so i return serve. the guy was in no doubt about what he was doing (wrong) but just didn't give a stuff.

Are you sure he knew he was doing something wrong? As far as Australian culture goes most people seem to think that paths are shared locations open to pedestrians, pets and cyclists. The notion that paths are a medium speed infrastructure where there is an obligation to not hold up traffic does not seem to enter the minds of many people.

The same people wouldn't dream of walking along the road allowing their dog to wander.

human909 wrote:Are you sure he knew he was doing something wrong? As far as Australian culture goes most people seem to think that paths are shared locations open to pedestrians, pets and cyclists. The notion that paths are a medium speed infrastructure where there is an obligation to not hold up traffic does not seem to enter the minds of many people.

anyone with common sense would have seen that his actions were causing chaos - he was enjoying himself. some people are just p's.

i've got no issue with slowing for pedestrians, even if they insist on blocking the entire path (which is annoying), but dogs are not protected by the road rules - their owners are obliged to keep them under control.

Watched, as I drove to work this morning , a cyclist passed by a car (safely) approaching a two lane roundabout, car and cyclist in left lane. Car stopped to give way, cyclist continued on passing the car on the kerb side to get just in front of the car before the car moved off. Car then moved off passing the cyclist again, both in the same lane through the roundabout in a lane where the is little to no shoulder. There were no other vehicles on the roundabout, other than me driving in the opposite direction.

Can only imagine the at the end of the driver was annoyed and the cyclist was lucky to have enough space to ride. Some cyclists just give others a bad name, he could have slowed to stay behind the car without losing too much momentum. Also worth noting that the cyclist had a hi vis vest on so has some sense of cycle safety.

bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

g-boaf wrote:I think someone suggested a while back on here that we should be riding on the road, and not on the shared paths. There are some seriously dumb people on the paths.

The problem is that, with this bridge and the 70kph speed limit, it's too dangerous to ride on the road over the bridge if it's only a few riders.

There was a head-on collision between two cyclists on the shared path on the other side of the bridge a few weeks back, and the innocent cyclist flipped over the safety barrier and landed on his back in the traffic between two cars. Luckily, the traffic was moving slowly, so he wasn't run over. The Govt suggestion for that side of the bridge is to put up some 'cyclists must dismount' signs until they find the $3+M (!!?!) to put a taller barrier up between the pathway and the road.

The proper solution would be to do a flotation test (lake below bridge) of the bicycles ridden by these people who can't seem to do simple things like ride on the correct side of the path, overtake safely etc. etc.

Actually - in a similar vein, a few months back I was riding across the same bridge with one other in single file, we were approaching a ped and mate ahead went to overtake when lycra hoon tried to overtake all of us without calling then had the hide to abuse my mate for getting in his way. Luckily for him, we had somewhere else to be... otherwise we were going to follow and have words.

g-boaf wrote:I think someone suggested a while back on here that we should be riding on the road, and not on the shared paths. There are some seriously dumb people on the paths.

The problem is that, with this bridge and the 70kph speed limit, it's too dangerous to ride on the road over the bridge if it's only a few riders.

There was a head-on collision between two cyclists on the shared path on the other side of the bridge a few weeks back, and the innocent cyclist flipped over the safety barrier and landed on his back in the traffic between two cars. Luckily, the traffic was moving slowly, so he wasn't run over. The Govt suggestion for that side of the bridge is to put up some 'cyclists must dismount' signs until they find the $3+M (!!?!) to put a taller barrier up between the pathway and the road.

The proper solution would be to do a flotation test (lake below bridge) of the bicycles ridden by these people who can't seem to do simple things like ride on the correct side of the path, overtake safely etc. etc.

Actually - in a similar vein, a few months back I was riding across the same bridge with one other in single file, we were approaching a ped and mate ahead went to overtake when lycra hoon tried to overtake all of us without calling then had the hide to abuse my mate for getting in his way. Luckily for him, we had somewhere else to be... otherwise we were going to follow and have words.

Had a similar experience this morning going south on Commonwealth Ave just onto Vernon Circle; southbound in the bike lane, approaching a slow commuter and with a guy on my wheel; I do a headcheck for the car lane, start to move right when he mumbles something and goes around me...

The Commonweath Ave bridge is muppetville at commute times... had a northbound pedestrian walk straight across my path this morning as I rode south on the eastern side, making for the ramp down to the lake. Luckily I was already covering the brakes...

And how "nice" is the new intersection of London Circuit/Parkes way onto Commonwealth Ave for peds & cyclists? I'm waiting for the first fatality - buckleys chance of crossing the two lanes as designed. I used to avoid that crossing point by going around London Crct in the morning peak, but now they have taken that option away in the process!

twizzle wrote:And how "nice" is the new intersection of London Circuit/Parkes way onto Commonwealth Ave for peds & cyclists? I'm waiting for the first fatality - buckleys chance of crossing the two lanes as designed. I used to avoid that crossing point by going around London Crct in the morning peak, but now they have taken that option away in the process!

I have put in a compliant regarding this intersection, plus a follow up with no reply yet. The more that compliane on Canberra Connect the better

human909 wrote:Are you sure he knew he was doing something wrong? As far as Australian culture goes most people seem to think that paths are shared locations open to pedestrians, pets and cyclists. The notion that paths are a medium speed infrastructure where there is an obligation to not hold up traffic does not seem to enter the minds of many people.

anyone with common sense would have seen that his actions were causing chaos - he was enjoying himself. some people are just p's.

i've got no issue with slowing for pedestrians, even if they insist on blocking the entire path (which is annoying), but dogs are not protected by the road rules - their owners are obliged to keep them under control.

How are dogs and the road rules relevant? Do you really think dog walkers are checking the road rules before they take their dog for a walk?

Hey All,I rode to work for the first time today and took the bike paths all the way through.

I was riding on a bridge which had reasonable space for 1.5 bikes on the footpath next to the road. I was riding in the middle as there was clearly only enough space for one and I would have a bigger chance of falling off. There was a cyclist on the road (who had crossed a 6 lane main road) and ended up jumping up on the curb and going on the start of the bridge foot path and started pedalling towards me (even though he would have had heaps of space to stop and let me get through first). I was at least 3/4 of the way past the bridge before he did this and it was really frustrating.

As the bike path was travelling against the traffic he ended up going on the safer side (edge of the bridge) and making me have to go around him as he was pedalling in the middle of the path, and I was literally on the edge of the curb.

Clearly the courteous thing would have been to let me pass, instead of him barging through.

If it was the other way around I would have been more than happy to let him through, so much for helping out your fellow Cyclist.

Anyone else got a story like that? A fellow cyclist being less courteous than desired?

twizzle wrote:And how "nice" is the new intersection of London Circuit/Parkes way onto Commonwealth Ave for peds & cyclists? I'm waiting for the first fatality - buckleys chance of crossing the two lanes as designed. I used to avoid that crossing point by going around London Crct in the morning peak, but now they have taken that option away in the process!

I agree, that is a really nasty intersection now, it's just an accident waiting to happen.

twizzle wrote:And how "nice" is the new intersection of London Circuit/Parkes way onto Commonwealth Ave for peds & cyclists? I'm waiting for the first fatality - buckleys chance of crossing the two lanes as designed. I used to avoid that crossing point by going around London Crct in the morning peak, but now they have taken that option away in the process!

Yep, it's a shocker... even worse because now drivers will be distracted by the zip merge (difficulty rating for Canberran drivers = 11/10).

Given the amount of cycle traffic, the best solution would've been to continue the bike lane along the left-hand side of Commonwealth Ave and require traffic entering from Parks Way to give way to cyclists (though that's another 11/10 skill for drivers hereabouts).

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